I was holding a rubber band ball in my hand earlier and tossing it up in the air at about eye level. I noticed that I could see the shape of individual rubber bands on the axis of rotation on the outside of the ball but the edges of the ball were blurry. This got me thinking.. is a ball spinning slower near the axis than it is at the outer edge? Is the earth spinning faster at the equator than it is at the poles? If speed is d/t then the math makes sense to a layman like me that the ball would be rotating slower at the center and faster on the edges. Please help.
edit: holy shit. balls are fascinating.
In: 439
Your understanding is correct. There are rings on the surface of the circle where the radius from the axis of rotation is equal all the away around, but as you change the distance from the axis of rotation, the speed changes equivalently. This is why on earth the poles barely move and the equator is always rotating. They spin at the same rate, but the speed they move is different.
Angular velocity = Angular rotation x distance from axis of rotation
That is why radians where invented and when you get into complex math to do with spheres it all becomes radians. Radians are a conveniwnt way tp measure rotation around a circle, and makes the math easier.
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